- “I will destroy you and everyone you love!”
- ―Rob[src]
Rob is the main antagonist of the Cartoon Network animated series The Amazing World of Gumball. Formerly a minor background character, after being thrown in and escaping the Void, he becomes the vengeful archenemy of Gumball Watterson.
He is voiced by Charles Philipp, and his Dr. Wrecker voice is voiced by David Warner, who also voiced Ra's al Ghul in Batman: The Animated Series.
Background[]
Physical appearance[]
Original[]
Rob was originally depicted as a blue cyclops with a lanky frame, medium-length light-brown hair, and a single large eye featuring a magenta iris. He had long, skinny limbs, pink hands with visible nails, and a large head. His attire consisted of red short shorts with two light orange stripes on the left side, a yellow crop-top T-shirt, dark orange shoes with blue laces, and a brown backpack.
Current[]
After escaping the Void, Rob's body became disfigured and fragmented. His head turned grey and dodecahedral, floating without a neck, and displayed distorted static on both sides of his face. His eye became pale yellow with a black, lemniscate-shaped pupil, which was changed to an oval design in Season 5. His mouth and tongue turned pink and yellow, respectively, and his hair transformed into sparse, large polygons of dark brown.
Rob's limbs turned into static, with one shoe becoming a lime wireframe and the other a solid dark-grey prism. One of his hands became geometric and grey, while the other remained organic and pink. His clothes became polygonal, with his shirt developing a hole and losing its sleeves, while his backpack transformed into a floating brown hexagon without straps. His midriff now switches inconsistently between static and pink.
Rob's new form is prone to random glitches, warping, and malfunctions. After being reintroduced into the timeline in "The Future," he was given a pig tail.
Personality and traits[]
Rob initially had a relatively kind, social, and friendly personality, as he was frequently seen hanging out with the other students and greeted Gumball and Darwin on the sidewalk with excitement. However, he became frustrated and argumentative when Gumball and Darwin failed to recognize him, despite having interacted with him before. Nevertheless, he still helped them by catching a CD they needed before it fell into the sewer, even though Darwin had kicked him down the sewer to get rid of him. However, when Gumball and Darwin once again failed to remember his name, he angrily threw the CD down the road. Overall, while Rob was generally a friendly and forgiving kid, he was also quite irritable, insecure, and prone to entitlement.
This personality shifted drastically in "The Nobody," where Rob lost all memory of his past and felt like a forgotten nobody. Upon escaping the Void, he became very pitiful, cowardly, and lost, as he had no idea who he was or what he wanted to be. Nevertheless, he was polite and receptive to Gumball and Darwin, who helped him reinvent himself. By the episode's end, he regains his memories and vows revenge on Gumball and Darwin for abandoning him in the Void, now fueled with bitterness and anger. Although he comes across as menacing and dangerous while seeking vengeance, Rob proves to be incompetent in "The Nemesis," where his repeated attempts to harm Gumball and Darwin fail. In fact, he even needs their help to become a better villain, though their efforts don’t significantly improve his abilities. From this point on, Rob becomes more focused on defeating Gumball, his hatred intensifying.
Over time, Rob grows more competent as a villain, surpassing others in the show. Besides targeting Gumball, he also attempts to destroy Elmore. For instance, he mistakenly believes Elmore has a dam and tries to flood the town by breaking it, though no such dam exists. He also plants a bomb on the Elmore Junior High school bus, intending to kill the students and teachers, and views this as another attempt to eliminate Gumball, while seeking a million-dollar ransom. Despite often enjoying the havoc that he wreaks, he doesn't actually want to be a villain, but believes he was forced into the role considering there was nothing else for him to be. As a result, he develops existential crisis about the nature of the universe he inhabits, and ultimately tries to seal Gumball outside of Elmore in order to rewrite the world. However, he undid the harm he caused to Gumball out of remorse and a belief that in his absence, there would be nowhere for Rob to turn.
Beneath his hatred and anger lies a deeply traumatized and insecure teenager, forced into the role of a villain he never wanted. Ultimately, Rob is a soul-searcher who longs for a normal life, seeking remembrance, dignity, and agency. Despite his destructive actions, he still values the lives of others, as seen when he tries to save everyone from being sucked into the Void, a place where all the world’s mistakes are sent, by turning them into normal humans. However, his warnings are ignored because of his confrontational attitude, poor communication skills, arrogance, and tendency to blame others instead of himself.
Powers and abilities[]
- Intelligence: Rob is known for his high intelligence and stands out as one of the smartest characters in the series. For instance, he was clever enough to hide from the Wattersons for a significant amount of time without them realizing, though he later comments that they are the only family "dumb enough" not to notice. After turning to crime, Rob’s intelligence became more dangerous, as he devised a nearly flawless plan to blow up a bus and escape with a million dollars—failing only due to Gumball’s interference, not incompetence like many other villains. Similarly, in the episode "The Ex," Rob created a highly foolproof plan to kill Banana Joe, which would have succeeded if not for Gumball's intervention. He also managed to successfully kidnap Banana Barbara for an entire week. Rob also possesses deep existential knowledge about the nature of the universe, understanding that it is fictional and influenced by greater forces. This insight enables him to eject Gumball from the universe in "The Disaster," hijack the show's broadcast in "The Spinoffs," accurately predict the series' ending using Banana Barbara's paintings in "The Future," and create technology capable of turning the characters into humans in "The Inquisition."
- Superhuman Abilities: Rob is portrayed as a highly formidable opponent in combat. Despite being a kid, he is capable of defeating Gumball in one-on-one fights. While Gumball may be younger, he's an exceptionally skilled martial artist who has bested some of the most powerful villains. Rob is also shown to be incredibly fast and possesses impressive stamina, as he can outrun Gumball and Darwin without slowing down. He even effortlessly dodges Gumball’s attacks, even when Gumball is sped up. Additionally, Rob demonstrates remarkable endurance, enduring the strongest blows from both Watterson brothers and emerging unscathed and victorious. He even survives a massive explosion from a bomb he held, landing on a car after a significant fall without serious harm.
Role in the series[]
Season 1[]
Rob first made a cameo appearance in "The Party," where he attended a party hosted by Tobias' older sister, Rachel. He was later seen in "The Fight" as one of the Elmore students anticipating the fight between Gumball and Tina Rex.
Season 2[]
Rob first speaking role was in "The Pony," in which he greeted Gumball and Darwin with excitement on the sidewalk, but got upset when the two didn't know his name. He blocked Gumball and Darwin’s path to argue with them about it before Darwin kicked him down a manhole; he later denied them the DVD they were after. In "The Finale," Rob is seen among a crowd of angry Elmore civilians trying to attack the Wattersons before reality is reset to the status quo.
Season 3[]
Rob then briefly appeared in Season 3's "The Void" next to a rejected design of the Watterson house, indicating his fate as one of Elmore's mistakes sent to the Void.
In "The Nobody," many of the Wattersons' possessions suddenly go missing, such as Nicole's money, Richard's toothbrush, and Anais' Daisy the Donkey doll. The three members of the family wrongfully Gumball and Darwin for it, and Nicole grounds them by making them stay in their room until one of them owns up. The duo assumes that a mysterious house guest must be the culprit, and eventually uncover clues like a secret food compartment, later attempting to find a secret bunker. This leads them to the basement, where they find all of the stolen possessions, and the intruder in question. The stranger runs out of the house in a panic, and the duo chases him throughout Elmore for an explanation. Gumball blocks his path by causing a car to explode, Tina to slip, and a truck to topple over, all by throwing condiments. This prompts the individual to surrender.
Gumball and Darwin sit the stranger down, asking for an explanation as to why he was in their house. He tells them he is a nobody who has lost his identity, has no mother or siblings, and that there is no other place for him in this world. Gumball and Darwin tell the stranger that he can reinvent himself, suggesting different roles for him to play in Elmore, but discovering that all the positive ones are taken. Eventually, they land on the missing role of a "bad guy" and suggest he become their mortal enemy, specifically arguing that he becomes "the worst guy the world has ever made." This choice of words triggers the person's memory, and he is revealed to be Rob. In a flashback, Rob explains that he was trying to get Gumball and Darwin's attention in the Void, but they were too focused on finding Molly. As the group escaped the Void in Mr. Small's van, Janice, Rob clung on to the back of it as it launched back to Elmore. After the group drove off, Rob was ejected from the Void, but his precarious escape left him glitchy and disfigured. In the present, he vows revenge on Gumball and Darwin for leaving him behind, claiming that he will take away everything that they ever loved and that they have given him a part to play in the world.
Season 4[]
Rob's next appearance in "The Nemesis" showcases him repeatedly failing (around 563 times, according to a statement made by him) to exact revenge on Gumball and Darwin. The duo decides to help him become a better nemesis by altering his voice, making him a villainous outfit, and giving him a name change. Rob adopts the alter ego Dr. Wrecker and coins a new catchphrase: "You just got wrecked." Later in the episode, his plot to flood the town by destroying the Elmore dam with a wrecking ball backfires when he is unable to escape via bus, so he consults Gumball and Darwin to fix the damage. After all hope seems lost, they realize Elmore doesn't even have a dam, and that Dr. Wrecker only destroyed part of a vending machine. To cheer him up, Gumball and Darwin walk into one of Rob's earlier traps. Rob then walks off in evil laughter as the two beg him to help them down.
Later on, Rob makes two cameo appearances in "The Uploads" and "The Love," the first showing him swearing revenge in an Elmore Stream-It video, and the second showing him participate in the "What Is Love" song.
Rob's next appearance is in "The Bus," where he is revealed to be the criminal mastermind behind the episode's convoluted ordeal. He anonymously suggested that the adults teach the kids to not skip school by faking a hostage scenario, told the police it was a real crime, and replaced the ordinary suitcase on the bus with one containing a bomb. His reason for doing this was to steal ransom money from the police and fulfill his role as Gumball's nemesis, Dr. Wrecker. A chaotic scenario ensues involving a police chase on the highway and into an airport, where a plane wing eventually cuts the bus in half and picks up Gumball and Rob. The two fight on the plane wing over the two briefcases which are also used as weapons, one containing the money and the other containing the bomb. Rob is about to crush Gumball with his briefcase, but as the police arrive, he blames Gumball for the crime and gets away. However, Rob mistakenly takes the briefcase with the bomb, which then explodes from a distance, sending him flying back to the airport and landing on top of a police car. Rob, defeated, is then arrested for his crimes.
Rob returns in "The Disaster," presumably having escaped from prison, and steals a universal remote from "The Awesome Store" van. He messes around with the remote, discovering its power to manipulate time, reality, and the episode itself. He accidentally rewinds to when he was left behind in the Void, prompting him to reset his voice and declare himself in control in spite of past events. When the van shopkeeper requests the money he is owed from Rob, Rob deletes him from existence using the remote. While the Watterson family is looking for a parking spot in the mall garage, Rob pauses the scene and reminds Gumball that he will destroy everything he loves, unbeknownst to him. Rob turns on the ignitions of the surrounding cars, causing them to crash into the Watterson vehicle and create a piled-up wreck. Gumball is wrongly blamed for this due to him annoying Nicole earlier by playing with the car window, and the family enters the mall.
While at the Elmore Mall, Rob makes Gumball lose his half-brother Darwin by putting up "evil magic subtitles," framing Gumball for making offensive remarks towards Darwin regarding his adoption. Gumball runs to his family to explain what happened, and Nicole calms him down. However, Rob makes Richard and Nicole argue and agree on a divorce by deactivating their "parental filters." Anais chases after them, but Rob causes her to get lost by turning down the brightness. The lowered brightness then causes Gumball to dive and accidentally "kiss" Sarah in front of Penny. Gumball chases after a distraught Penny to explain, but Rob's fast forwarding causes Gumball to push her off the mall balcony, time suddenly pausing before she hits the ground. Gumball runs around the mall in confusion, until he is confronted by Rob.
Rob explains the reasons behind his actions, and claims that Gumball has no one to blame but himself. Rob says that he never wanted to be the villain, and instead wanted to be a cute sidekick, but that since Gumball is the hero of the story, Rob has to be the villain in order to reclaim his place in the world. Rob argues that once Gumball is out of the picture, he can be whoever he wants, as it will no longer be Gumball's "amazing world." Rob opens up a portal to the Void with the remote and tries to kick Gumball inside, but Gumball immediately tackles him, fighting for the remote. Ultimately, Rob launches Gumball to the very edge of the portal and tries to eject Gumball, but the remote malfunctions. Initially frustrated, Rob then decides to toss the remote in the Void, forcing Gumball to follow the device in order to save his loved ones. Rob seals the portal to the Void as Gumball falls in with a final goodbye, and the end credits sequence roll along the "screen" of the Void. Gumball plummets into the Void, and eventually grabs the remote. He fixes the batteries that slipped out and presses rewind, sending him right back to the beginning of the episode. The episode ends on a "to be continued..." message.
Despite this, Rob returned in The Disaster, presumably having escaped from prison and visited the Awesome Store and purchased a remote that can control the universe. When the man from the Magic Van wanted the money he owed to Rob, he killed him by erasing him with the remote. While the Watterson family were finding a parking spot, Rob paused the scene and reminded Gumball that he will destroy everything he loved, and turned on all of the car lights and ignitions, crashing the family's own car in a piled-up wreck, which Gumball is blamed for causing despite him pleading innocence, due to him messing with the window even after Nicole ordered him to stop. While at the Elmore Mall, Rob made Gumball lose his half-brother Darwin by putting up "evil magic subtitles" as insults, making Gumball cry and run to his family about what had happened, and Nicole calms him down. Then Rob made Richard and Nicole break up and go their separate ways by deactivating their parental filters, and he made Gumball break up with his girlfriend Penny and accidentally pushed her to her death and suddenly paused the scene, with everyone frozen in time (except Gumball and Rob). Gumball confronts Rob and wants his revenge on him for messing up his day. Rob explained that he wanted to be the sidekick of Gumball, not a villain. Rob opens up a portal to the Void with the remote and tries to push Gumball inside, but Gumball immediately attacks him, fighting for the remote. After the fight, Rob pushes Gumball to the portal to the Void and tries to eject Gumball in, but the batteries were dead, so Rob tossed the remote in the Void, forcing Gumball to fall in the Void and get the remote in order to save his loved ones. He successfully hit the rewind button, sending Gumball right back to the beginning of the episode, and a "To be continued..." message appeared, ending the episode.
Season 5[]
Rob appeared again in "The Rerun," where Gumball relives the events of "The Disaster" but with hindsight. When Rob first turns on the insult subtitles to spite and upset Darwin, Gumball rearranges the letters, eventually spelling "Rob is messing with you." Rob then tries to use the eject attack on Darwin, but Gumball pushes him out of the way. Rob runs off and again tries to break up Nicole and Richard. Gumball jumps on top of Rob to stop him, but accidentally presses the rewind button that starts to devolve Richard and Nicole into babies. Anais points out a time paradox regarding their parents being converted to babies, and argues that the three children need to undo this quickly before they all disappear. Despite this, Anais dies from implosion, and Darwin devolves into a normal fish, causing him to suffocate and die on the spot. This enrages Gumball who tries to attack Rob, but Rob fast forwards Gumball into pushing Penny off the mall balcony once again. They both fight for the remote again, but Gumball gets the upper hand this time. He ejects Rob into the Void with the remote, defeating his nemesis and retrieving the remote. Gumball celebrates, but quickly realizes the consequences of his actions. He jumps into the Void to try and rescue Rob before he (Gumball) disappears, as the time paradox remains unresolved.
Gumball extends an olive branch to Rob, but Rob denies his help, arguing that he should remain with the rest of the universe's mistakes, and that his story ends here. Gumball catches up to him, but his body is rendered useless due to the time paradox. Rob retrieves the remote and contemplates turning Gumball "off," but he cannot bring himself to do so, deciding to spare Gumball’s life instead. Rob hits rewind, and appreciates how Gumball came all that way to save him. Rob realizes the only way to fix everything is to go back in time to break the remote, which will undo their reconciliation, but Gumball states he looks forward to being Rob's enemy in the future. Rob then goes back in time, fixing everything, and destroys the remote, claiming it is too dangerous.
Rob returns in "The Ex," where he finds himself a new archenemy in Banana Joe. He argues that Banana Joe is "easier to hate" after the emotionally complicated events of "The Rerun." Gumball is emotionally distraught, and while ignoring Penny's suggestion to leave the situation alone, he tries to win back Rob's hatred. He does so by suggesting villainous ideas to Rob, being intentionally annoying, and mimicking Banana Joe. After this proves to be fruitless, he tries to befriend Rob instead. He joins him in a stakeout at Banana Joe's house, but ruins his trap by inadvertently alerting Banana Joe with his phone. Rob flies into a rage and lashes out at Gumball for foiling his plans, solidifying Gumball and Rob as nemeses yet again.
Season 6[]
Rob returns in "The Spinoffs," where he holds Timmy (the internet) hostage in order to hijack the show's broadcast, showing several spin-offs ideas with the other characters. This proves to be futile, and Rob gives up by the end of the episode.
Rob reappeared in "The Future," where he kidnaps Banana Joe’s mom, Banana Barbara, to understand her prophetic paintings, which have gone from depicting tangible events to pictures of only static. One week later, Banana Joe requests Gumball and Darwin's help in finding his mother after she went missing. Meanwhile, at an abandoned warehouse, Rob orders Barbara to paint the future, but all she can paint is images of static. This enrages Rob, who claims "that can't just be the end." Barbara eventually paints a portal that teleports Gumball, Darwin, and Banana Joe to the warehouse. They confront Rob, who uses Barbara’s paintings to defend his quarter, painting in hazardous things like a crack in the floor and himself a bazooka. Gumball tackles Rob, and threatens to paint him out of existence. Rob claims that they "don't get it" and tells Gumball that "this is more important than you." Despite this, the trio eventually use white paint on a painting of Rob to erase Rob from existence, killing him. Gumball feels remorse, and requests that Barbara paint Rob back into existence. Banana Barbers repaints Rob into existence, giving him a pigtail as per Gumball's request, who wishes to see him in the future. However, Barbara responds that there is no future, contextualized next to the painting of Rob which depicts him falling into the Void.
In "The Revolt," Rob makes a cameo where he is in an Elmore Stream-It video, uploaded during his "Dr. Wrecker" phase.
In the series finale, "The Inquisition," a live-action human named Superintendent Evil arrives at Elmore Jr. High to stamp out any cartoonish conduct. This involves having the kids act realistically, threatening punitive measures if they do not oblige. Eventually, it is revealed that Superintendent Evil is using technology to transform the characters into humans. He manages to transform almost all the kids into humans, except for Gumball and Darwin, who manage to turn all the kids back to their normal forms by reminding them of their cartoon identities. After getting confronted, Superintendent Evil's mask is pulled off, revealing him to have been Rob in a disguise the whole time.
Rob tries to explain his actions, and claims that the transformation was designed to save their lives, but Tina knocks him out. Rob wakes up at the school at midnight, alone, and rants about how he was stopped earlier. He claims that transformation was the only chance they had to escape to "the other place" before something happened to this world. However, he cuts himself off upon hearing crumbling sounds, and the floor breaks apart beneath him, revealing the Void. He falls in and barely holds onto the edge of the floor, looking down at the abyss before remarking with horror that "it's started." He loses his grip and falls into the abyss, screaming, the Void continuing to destroy the world around him. The episode freeze frames on Rob's descent into the Void, and plays an eerie rendition of the end credits music before the episode ends. The last shot of the show is the same image depicted in Banana Barbara's painting from the end of "The Future."
It is unknown if Rob survived or not.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Rob made a cameo on the computer in "The Genius," showing that his friends were (in order) Teri, Alan, Leslie, and Carmen. He is also seen wearing a mustang mask in the desert on Fessebook. This same page reappears in "The Internet."
- Technically, Rob, Bobert, and Banana Bob share the same name, as they are all shortened forms of "Robert."
- In Season 1, Rob was animated using CGI. In Season 2, he was changed to 2D animation, likely to make him easier to animate. However, starting with "The Nobody," he returned to CGI.
- In "The Nobody," it is revealed that Rob never had parents or siblings, although he was suffering from amnesia at the time.
- In the same episode, the static-covered parts of Rob's body can be seen glowing in the dark.
- Rob is the second character in the show to have a permanent physical change, the first being Penny. Fittingly, both have a unique relationship with Gumball and the most significant roles of any non-Watterson characters.
- Rob is aware that the world he lives in is fictional.
- Despite his tragic nature, Rob is one of the most dangerous and morally compromised villains Gumball has ever faced, willing to abandon his morality to hurt Gumball. This has led to several near-death experiences for the main cast and multiple instances of crossing the "Moral Event Horizon," such as:
- Deleting the van shopkeeper from existence while smiling.
- Breaking up Gumball's family, nearly causing Gumball to kill Penny twice.
- Attempting to trap Gumball in the Void.
- Enjoying the transformation of Nicole and Richard into infants, which caused Anais to disappear and Darwin to suffocate and die from devolution.
- Creating a shark to attack Gumball during their battle in "The Future," and using a bazooka as a weapon.
- Threatening to eat Banana Barbara if she didn't paint the future, though the threat was nullified by his lack of depth perception due to his one eye.
- In "The Disaster," Rob told Gumball he "could be whatever he wants" once Gumball was "out of the picture," suggesting that Rob planned to rule the universe with the remote's power and redefine his place in the world.
- Rob mentions in "The Bus" that he has a major in Canadian History, implying that he may have already advanced in his studies by age 13, though this could have been a one-off gag.
- In "The Uploads," Rob has an internet channel called Dr. Wr., with his only video titled W.R.E.C.K.T.R.E., a parody of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in 007.
- Rob's static changes with his emotions. When he feels malevolent, his static turns dark navy, and when he's angry or upset, it glows white.
- Rob's static exhibits the "unmoving plaid" effect, where it retains the same 2D orientation no matter how Rob is positioned.
- Rob is arguably one of the strongest characters in the show, having defeated Gumball and his family, who are considered some of Elmore's strongest residents.
- Nicole is the only member of the Watterson family who has yet to encounter or interact with Rob.
- Rob is the last character to appear and speak in the main series, having the final line in "The Inquisition."
- Rob is the only character who consistently remembers the Void, as other characters have had their memories wiped or their timelines rewound.
- A running gag in the series involves Gumball repeatedly forgetting Rob's name, usually calling him similar one-syllable names starting with "r." However, in "The Bus," "The Rerun," "The Ex," "The Future," and "The Inquisition," Gumball correctly says his name.
- In "The Future," Rob claims that his bad depth perception is due to having only one eye.
- Rob's name was first revealed after fans asked James Lamont who the blue cyclops from "The Party" was. Lamont jokingly responded, "We do not speak of him," but eventually revealed his name.
- Jacob Hopkins, who voices Gumball, has stated that Rob is his favorite character from the series.